It is not often that we steal a march on the SCMP re: matters Hong Kong but I think we did on the new port. I did though fail to mention that President Xi himself had beamed in for the grand opening from down the road in Lima.
From the South China Morning Post, December 6:
As China expands trade and investment in Latin America, a proactive Hong Kong should seize the opportunity to connect all parties involved
An oft-quoted aphorism goes, “History does not repeat itself, but it often rhymes.” One can hardly think of a better example of history rhyming than the recently inaugurated Chinese-funded Chancay port on Peru’s Pacific coast.The new era of Chinese-Latin American commercial relations it heralds is a modern reincarnation of the “Silver Way”, a trading relationship between Asia and Spanish America that endured for two and half centuries from the 1560s.Arguably the most important conduit for trade and finance in the early modern period, the Silver Way’s legacy persisted for decades after the last Manila galleon docked in 1815. The traces remain to this day, even in Hong Kong, if one knows where to look.The trade was fuelled by silver from what were then the Spanish viceroyalties of Peru and New Spain – which encompassed Mexico, Central America and even parts of the United States. That silver underpinned Chinese money supply and by the early 18th century became China’s first standardised currency....
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Related December 4 - "In Memory of Hong Kong"
If interested see also:
June 19 - "Peru: Chinese Megaport Is Rattling the U.S."
November 16 - "Megaport opens up Latin America to Chinese trade as US looks on"
And on the silver trade:
The China Ship: "How silver changed the world" (SCMP)
The discovery of the roundtrip and the beginning of globalisation"
The China Ship Chapter 2: "Galleon of China: flagship of trade over two centuries"
We skipped over:
Chapter 3 A journey of dread
And tying it together, November 17, 2024:
Speaking Of Trans-Pacific Trade: Silver and China
Following on the post immediately below, "Megaport opens up Latin America to Chinese trade as US looks on", some history.
Apologies if you stopped by looking for an analysis of silver usage in solar panels but here's hoping this post and the links at the end of this post are of interest.
